Filed under: News, Politics, Race and Civil Rights
My mom has this saying that goes, "Sometimes, you just stay too long at the fair." It means that all good things come to an end and the longer you hold out against time, the higher the likelihood that you'll get cocky or greedy and ultimately get yourself into trouble. Think, Marion Barry. OK, he was on crack, bad example. Think instead, Rep. Maxine Waters.
I have yet to see a politician serve more than 20 years in elected office who doesn't ultimately get him or herself in to trouble. I can imagine it's difficult. Everyone coming to you for this or that. Special interests pouring money in to your campaigns in hopes of a future favor. You are regarded as a demi-god in your communities -- you are revered and respected. Ever so often you do a little wheeling and dealing in a back room without consequence. There is no such thing as a close race for you. You feel invincible.
Is it really that shocking that one day you will get caught slipping?
Which brings us to Maxine Waters. Is she a political super villian? Nah. But she may be guilty of the only thing that matters: staying too long at the fair.
Veteran Rep. Maxine Waters, who has been charged with three violations of House rules, says the alleged ethics violations are baseless, including an assertion she sought federal assistance for a bank where her husband served on the board.
The California Democrat said this week, "I have not violated any rules" and maintains that she has gone "above and beyond" what was required by House rules in reporting her activities.
Waters contends she has only worked tirelessly to improve access to federal regulators for the National Bankers Association (NBA), which represents 133 minority banks, including OneUnited Bank, where her husband also owned stock.
Waters also contends that the NBA requested a meeting with Treasury officials, which was held on behalf of the organization, and not OneUnited, which eventually received $12 million in bailout money.
The House ethics committee, which is investigating Waters for allegedly improperly using her position for personal gain, says in its report, though, that when the meeting was held, the officers of only one bank came -- OneUnited.
No one argues that this is the Crime of the Century. However, it is an example of a long-time politician getting sloppy. Getting greedy. Being arrogant.
According to the House Ethics Report, Waters was warned repeatedly by colleague Rep. Barney Frank against interceding on behalf of a troubled bank with ties to her husband. Yet she and her chief of staff, who is also her grandson, continued to be "actively involved" in working to help the bank.
The pride before the fall.
It is said that her husband's financial interest in OneUnited had declined from $350,000 at the end of June 2008 to about $175,000 in September, and would have been worthless if OneUnited had not received federal funds.
Around the same time that Waters set up that September 2008 meeting between the Treasury Department officials and NBA representatives, her chief of staff sent an e-mail to the staff of Rep. Frank, who is the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee. According to the report, the subject of the e-mail was: "O(ne) U(nited) Is in Trouble."
To maintain that OneUnited was not the primary or even secondary focus of her actions demonstrates the same hubris that led to her actions in the first place. And frankly, it doesn't matter what she says now.
There is a concept in law called the "appearance of impropriety." She should know moreso than most what that means. Often you don't have to do something wrong, it just LOOKS like you were doing something wrong. And within the institutions that are given the responsibility of governing the people, it is even more important that lawmakers maintain the highest ethical standards possible, if these institutions are to retain any credibility.
I believe that Maxine Waters has done a lot for her constituents. She is beloved in California and has worked non-stop to help minority communities thrive. She is no criminal. She just couldn't resist the opportunity when it presented itself. Her arrogance got in the way of common sense. She just stayed too long at the fair.
And now, as most politicians do when their backs are against the wall, Rep. Waters has gone on the offensive. She is now blaming the Bush administration for her ethics problems, saying she had to intervene with the Treasury Department on behalf of minority-owned banks seeking federal bailout funds -- including one tied to her husband -- because the Treasury Department wouldn't schedule its own appointments.
The California Democrat said in a Capitol Hill news conference -- an event rarely held during a congressional recess -- that she reached out to then-Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson in late 2008, when his department failed to respond to the National Bank Association's request for a meeting.
"The question at this point should not be why I called Secretary Paulson, but why I had to," she said. "The question at this point should be why a trade association representing over 100 minority banks could not get a meeting at the height of the crisis."
It's been too long, Rep. Waters, the fair is over. Just go home.